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Sunday, 16 March 2014

Chinese mine raises furor in Sinaloa, Mexico

A banner demanding justice from the governor

Twelve people from the small community of El Potrero de
Cancio in the municipality of Choix, in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, remain in
jail despite a ruling demanding their release. The villagers were detained in
September, 2013, after protesting against an iron mining company named Paradox
Global Resources S.A. de C.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chinese
industrial conglomerate
Rizhao Xingye Import & Export Co.

The villagers are “ejidatarios”, or members of an ejido,
which is a collective form of land ownership established in Mexico after the
revolution a century ago. They had been protesting the company’s breach of
contract and refusal to transfer any financial benefit to their small village,
which numbers about 350 inhabitants. Specifically, the community was promised
two dollars per ton of iron ore extracted from the company’s mine, paved
streets, an expanded medical clinic, as well as an improved electrical grid and
water system.

The community claims that the land initially fell into the
mine’s hands as a result of a fraud, with the company’s legal representative in
Mexico, Ms. María Hermila Gámez Rodríguez, having used forged documents to gain
title to the 40 hectares on behalf of the Chinese company. Despite this
accusation, which has not been investigated by the courts, the State government
has been playing hard ball, using armoured vehicles to intimidate and arrest
the unarmed civilian population.

Four months ago, on December 12, 2013, a judge in Sinaloa’s
sixth district in Los Mochis, Fernando Alcázar Martínez, granted the villagers
an “amparo”, which is a type of bail that protects them from detention. A
lawyer for the group, Eleazar Mendoza, says that the reason they remain
incarcerated is due to a conflict of interest in which the legal team
representing the mine also works for the governor of the state within the
attorney general’s office. In effect, the chief prosecutor for the state is
also a client of the mine.

The villagers were arrested in September, 2013, while
blocking mine access. The protesters were charged with “aggravated theft” or
“plunder”, a serious crime, but the judge granted the amparo due to the fact
that, in his consideration, there was no evidence that a crime even occurred.
On Wednesday, March 12, their lawyer took the case to federal court in Mazatlán,
demanding their release. As of Monday, March 17, there has been no decision.

In December a spokesperson for an agricultural tribunal,
Fernando Hernández Reyes, confirmed a ruling that found Paradox Global
Resources had breached the contract stipulating that it install services in the
community. The fact that the contract had not been fulfilled was acknowledged by
the mining company’s lawyer, Jironavo Montoya Castro, who nonetheless insisted
that the company would fulfill its obligations at a later date.

The company was perhaps surprised that the ejido was able to
defend itself: their lawyer, Gervasio Osuna Contreras (secretary of the
Confederación Nacional Campesina, which represents small farmers and peasants)
had been thrown in jail, and there was an arrest warrant out for their leader.
Anticipating this intimidation, the ejido had prepared for a third party to appear
and defend them in court.

The first large-scale protest occurred back in August, 2013,
when the entire community showed up to complain that a bond promised six years
ago had yielded nothing. Villagers, including women and children, blockaded the
road to the mine and put up banners accusing the government of corruption and
asking that the Chinese company live up to its obligations.

La politica has
reached out to Rizhao Xingye Import & Export Co., which is a subsidiary of Xingye Group, but has received no response
as of yet.

The Sinaloa governor, Mario López Valdez, has insisted that
the detained villagers must sit down and “talk”, but has refused to address any
of the substantive issues. For their part, the ejidatarios have expressed concern
that the governor has turned a blind eye to their plight. López Valdez is with
the pro-business, right-of-centre National Action Party (PAN), which is on
friendly terms with the Chinese government, as was shown on March 3 when the Chinese
ambassador to Mexico, Qiu Xiaoqi, met with the party’s national leadership.

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